August 6, 2008

All off season, the Arizona State fans have discussed the brutal temps that await the Georgia team upon arrival in Tempe. "Georgia's players are really going to struggle with that heat."

No doubt it'll be hot there, but our guys haven't exactly been practicing on the North Pole.

Tuesday's heat index was 103-104 degrees in Athens and a 104-105 degrees in Tempe. Wednesday's predicted heat index is 104 in Athens and 105 degrees in Tempe. Monday's Sun Devil practices were described as mild weather by ESPN's beat writer.

Oh...and I'm pretty sure that a chunk of ASU's practices will be held in their new air conditioned "bubble." So the Devils will apparently go indoors when the temps rise further; yet, it will still be hot and sucky in Athens.

Yeah. We won't be able to handle that heat at all. Please. Our problem in the desert will be hydration maybe, but when it comes to hot. We know from hot.

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Desert heat ain't all that bad. I did an internship at Fort Irwin in the Mojave desert and broke a mild sweat in the 100+ degree heat. They warn you more to stay hydrated because you won't feel the onset of heat exhaustion like you would in the South with the humidity. is it hot? Yea. Hot like August two-a-days in the South? didn't feel that way.-- Richt-Flair

If we had been ranked 5-10 no one would be able to tell us a name of a player who got in trouble this off-season. The whole being ranked number one is the only reason everyone is riding UGA about a bunch of back-ups getting trashed or doing something stupid.

It's 98 outside with a heat index of 102 at 1pm. I would say we know what heat is like. It may be just as hot out there but the dry heat makes it much more bearable. You can walk 10 feet to your car without being soaked by the time you get there.

Fellas, it's hot. It's not miserable, like the south, but it's still really hot. The guys just need to stay hydrated and they'll be okay.

Anyway, last I checked plenty of teams in the Pac 10 that play @ Arizona State play in wussy weather: Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, UCLA, USC, etc. Those places aren't the desert, either, and some of them fair fine.

As far as the game on the field goes I think the heat will be a non-factor. By game time the Georgia sideline will have been in the shade for a few hours and I'm sure the misting fans will be running full speed. Adrenaline will take over and as long as hydration is maintained the players will be fine. The biggest risk is leg cramps.

As for the fans a late September game is hit and miss. The high that day could be 105 or it could be in the low 90s. If our monsoon sticks around we could even get a rain shower or two. A deluge prior to the Iowa game a couple years back caused a delay so the field could drain and lightning could clear the area.

The sun may be a minor nuisance for the fans in the far reaches of the east side of the upper deck (which is where most of the UGA fans will be), but the sun will quickly sink below Tempe Butte and the comfort level will improve.

The first signals that you may be getting dehydrated is if you stop perspiring and your skin feels warm. Just to be safe, it's a good idea to drink plenty of water before the game (I'm not sure if ice cubes in mixed drinks count).

There are usually vendors on the south side of the stadium along 5th Street selling frozen liters of water. You're permitted to bring them into the stadium as long as they're unopened.

As others have noted, desert heat is sneaky hot. In the southeast, you're literally surrounded by water in the form of humidity. Your sweat is plenty visible and the situation is pretty unmistakable.

People will note that they didn't break a sweat while hiking around the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, or other parts of the southwest. That's not necessarily a good thing. Your sweat just evaporates in the arid heat, so you have no idea how much water you're going through. At some point, you're out of fluids and in real trouble. Yet, just going by visible evidence, all that's happened is that you've gone from not sweating to not sweating. Whereas, in the southeast, you go from sweating profusely to not at all. Very different deltas.

In terms of comparing hot, hot is hot. Whether it feels like you're in a kiln or a sauna, the hot part is a given.

I'm more worried about the fans. I think a lot of amateurs are going to wind up in the hospital if they take the standard, southeastern approach to gameday drinking.

Where I was raised in south Georgia made Athens feel like paradise in the summers. Like many of you I know what hot is. So I thought.

I spent a week in Tempe last summer and, granted, it was very hot even by their standards. (Near 120 degrees, literally). One night some friends and I wanted to walk from our hotel to a restaurant that was maybe a half mile away. Our concierge said 'no way' even though the temps had dipped back into the more manageable 90's. Being the thick headed Georgians that many of you also are we gave it a shot anyway and barely made it back to the hotel once we decided how stupid it was to be outside, period.

My point is, of course, we all think we've seen the most miserable heat imaginable, but that crap is the kind of stuff I'll be telling my grandkids about.

I am, however, confident that our coaches realize this and that the boys will be adequately hydrated. I'm not so concerned about what effect the heat will have on the actual game.

I'm more interested to hear how some of our traveling southern brethren handle it in the parking lots and bars of downtown Tempe. I predict hillarity followed by mild embarassment.

When my brother and I did Route 66 one July a few years back, we spent plenty of time in the desert (I'd only ever been on the west coast before, so once we got past Amarillo, it was like "hm ... things are getting strange", but passing from one side of Albuquerque to the other was like landing on eff-ing Mars).

Anyway, after hitting the Pacific at Santa Monica, we cruised north and cut through Death Valley on the way to Vegas. I remember being mindful of staying hydrated, but it wasn't as though we felt any sort of urgency to drink lots of water. But I drink a fair amount of water anyway.

Cool and fun fact: at a convenience store in the middle of Death Valley, I got an ice cream sandwich (the kind made of big chocolate chip cookies - yum). It was a-hundred-and-sumpin' outside, but I took my time eating that thing with no mess. Here, half of it would have glopped down to my elbow after a few bites. Humidity makes heat attach to surfaces more, whether it's ice cream or skin (same with cold, btw). The other thing was wow, I didn't get a lapful of condensation every time I lifted a glass of iced tea at a restaurant.

If I were lucky enough to go, my "strategy" would be to have a bottle of water on me at all times (two-fisting with a cocktail only occasionally).

If you're that worried about the heat, wear a hat without a mesh top. It'll do a decent job of trapping some moisture. Back when I worked construction in Texas, that was the only way you knew how much water you were going through.